Freeport Mayor discusses waste-to-energy incinerator in video

Merrick civic groups vow fight alongside PTA

Activists contend that the Village of Freeport is still considering plans to build a waste-to-energy incinerator in south Freeport, next to Power Plant No. 2, above.

Scott Brinton/Herald

Scott Brinton

The South Merrick Community Civic Association announced this week that it would meet in the near future with Freeport Village activist Pat Rowen to discuss Freeport's possible construction of a waste-to-energy incinerator next to Power Plant No. 2, behind BJs just south of Merrick Road.

Rowen says the village is attempting to create the appearance that the project is dead. However, a YouTube video that she is circulating would suggest otherwise. On it, Freeport Village Mayor Andrew Hardwick discusses plans for the waste-to-energy incinerator, which would generate electricity by burning garbage. He states that garbage that would be burned at the plant could be brought in to the village on barges through Freeport's canals.

He also says that ash from the incinerator could be used to make concrete because of its low acidity, and he would like to see a concrete factory built in south Freeport to lower taxes and create jobs.

Merrick civic groups, including the Merrick Gables Civic Association, are vowing to fight the plant alongside Merrick PTAs, saying that air emissions from the plant would be highly toxic.

Hardwick and Hooper met earlier this year with representatives of the China-based Zhongde Group to discuss possible construction of the $550 million plant, which would be on the scale of the Covanta waste-to-energy plant in Westbury, off the Meadowbrook Parkway.